Kathmandu Valley Painting

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Author: Kreijger, Hugo E.

Product Code: 10893

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The Jucker Collection
For most lovers of Nepalese art, the Jucker collection will come as a revelation. The core of the collection was assembled during the 1960s in India, with a few well-judged additions in recent years filling in the remaining stylistic and iconographic lacun'. The collection as it stands gives an excellent overall view of the painting tradition in the Kathmandu Valley from the thirteenth to the early twentieth century - including several extremely rare scrolls for which there are no comparable pieces in other private or public collections.
Almost all the scroll paintings were executed by artists from the Newari community. The Newar lived and still live in the Kathmandu Valley - which with its three cities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur - has been the cultural heart of the eastern Himalayas throughout history. Nepal as we know it today did not exist earlier than 1769, when the Gorkhas conquered the area and set up the reigning Shah dynasty. In a sense, therefore, it is more appropriate to speak of Newari rather than Nepalese paintings.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Jucker collection is that one can clearly distinguish two different painting traditions in the history of the Kathmandu Valley. The first, and oldest, bears some influence from the northern India of the Pala dynasties ( circa 750-1200). Active from at least the eleventh until around the sixteenth century, this early Kathmandu Valley tradition in turn came to influence the painting traditions that arose with the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet.
The second tradition appeared in the late sixteenth century and seems to have been limited in its patronage to the Hindu and Buddhist communities of the valley. The paintings of this school are strongly figurative and quite often much more naively rendered. The color schemes also show a marked evolution toward more bold and vivid pigments, resulting in stronger contrasting colors. Influences on this style came not only from India, but also from Tibet, and can especially be seen in the depiction of landscape, textiles and architecture. It was this second painting tradition which gave the Valley its own place among the various Asian painting traditions.
This catalogue is the first to treat the Kathmandu Valley painting tradition. As such, its scrolls, bookcovers and sketchbooks are an indispensable resource for all students of Nepalese art.

Kathmandu Valley Painting, Hugo E. Kreijger, Serindia, 128 pages, $55.00

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